Uncategorized Posts
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Blog / ChangeThis
The Amish and the Case for Humility
By Erik Wesner
"When they're not around you or me, the Amish speak a language called Pennsylvania German. Demut is their word for humility. And Demut isn't just for the Amish. Why does humility matter? It matters in business. It matters in life. It matters in our relationships. "Celebrity" is a word you don't often see next to "humble." If you're gunning for stardom, there are only so many spots. Unless you're one of a select lucky few, you're bound to be disappointed, or worse. Humility is healthier. A humble approach in a relationship helps one recognize the other person's inherent value and needs. Humility fosters human understanding. If you're guided by humility in business, you are less likely to blow up the company by going too big, too quick. Humility checks you when that demon in your brain says "more." The one you know you should ignore. And as some find out the hard way, humility can save a heck of a lot of pain."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Forget Cinderella, Find Fred Astaire
By Porchlight
"Most companies would like to become more gender balanced at all levels, with women and men dancing together in a smooth and natural way. They have been trying for decades to attract, retain and promote more women. They have tried to grow their female customer bases. They are embarrassed by the all-male faces on the boardroom website, dancing to the tune of their own drummers. Most have gotten rid of the photos, but not the problem. Yet some companies have tried really hard, for a really long time. And almost everyone, male and female, is suffering from gender fatigue. [...] Why so much effort for so little result? Because we have over-focused on kissing Cinderella awake from her slumber and inviting her to the ball. But nobody ever bothered checking if the prince can actually dance."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Through the Fog: Solving Health Care in Companies
By Porchlight
"Major change usually comes off a platform of crisis, and I think everyone can agree that crisis conditions surely exist in health care economics. The nation's health care bill has been doubling every eight years for the last four decades. The runaway costs have been busting the budgets of federal, state and local governments, and they have bled the bottom lines of corporations. [...] We began our quest with a simple goal: neutralize the upward spiral in health costs so we can avoid annual premium increases for the company and its co-workers. How did we do this? As CEO and now chairman, I asked our 460 workers to take ownership of their health and healthcare costs, and we gave them the incentives and information to become expert consumers of health care."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Change is the New Constant: Leading Organizations That (Can) Thrive in Crises
By Alan Lewis
"Most organizations believe they are not working as well as they used to. They blame the rapid and unpredictable changes that are going on around them. But many of them have failed to grasp one fundamental truth: CHANGE IS THE NEW CONSTANT. To be successful in the 21st century requires an approach that change is here to stay, so one of the most critical components for success is now the ability to build a culture to adapt and thrive in change."
Categories: changethis
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Blog / Excerpts
An Excerpt from The Leader's Guide to Radical Management
By Porchlight
We chose Stephen Denning's book, The Secret Language of Leadership, as the best book on leadership in our first annual business book awards in 2007. We first met him in 2008, when we were fortunate enough to have him come speak at our author pow-wow. We were so impressed by the talk he gave that, when we were planning this year's gathering, there was no question as to whether or not we'd invite him back.
Categories: excerpts
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Blog / News & Opinion
And the Winner of The FT/Goldman Sachs Award Is...
By Porchlight
The Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year was announced last night at The Pierre in New York City, and it was something of an upset. Raghuram Rajan's Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy, released by Princeton University Press in May, beat out more widely recognized and commercially successful books like Michael Lewis's The Big Short and Andrew Ross Sorkin's Too Big to Fail (which was the runner up last night, and which we named The 800-CEO-READ Business Book of the Year in 2009). The award was presented by Lionel Barber, FT editor and chair of the judging panel, and Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs who recused himself as a judge because of the number of books on the shortlist about the financial crisis—books he was a character in having been the head of a major Wall Street firm during the crisis.
Categories: news-opinion, publishing-industry
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Blog / News & Opinion
13 (Lucky) Reasons to Attend the Author Pow Wow
By Sally Haldorson
13. You wrote a business book, but you can't seem to get any traction: our panel of industry experts can help. 12.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
I'm Just Here for the Music
By Sally Haldorson
Each month in our newsletter, The Keen Thinker, we include a section on music recommendations called "What We're Listening to. . .
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / Excerpts
An Excerpt from The Watchman's Rattle
By Porchlight
We currently post links on Friday to provide you with a bevy of informative and interesting weekend reading. I am hoping to start a new trend here on Mondays—excerpts and guest posts—to provide some consistent insights to begin the week with. We'll see how it goes.
Categories: excerpts
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Blog / Staff Picks
Hacking Work
Book Review by Porchlight
Does the infrastructure your company set up to help you get your work done actually get in the way of you doing it? Does it slow you down, or even create extra work instead of streamlining it? Well then, it's time to start hacking work.
Categories: staff-picks